Lesson 49  The end of a dream  美梦告终

Tired of sleeping on the floor， a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed. For the first time in his life， he became the proud owner of a bed which had springs and a mattress. Because the weather was very hot， he carried the bed on to the roof of his house. He slept very well for the first two nights， but on the third night， a storm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into the courtyard below. The young man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground. Although the bed was smashed to pieces， the man was miraculously unhurt. When he woke up， he was still on the mattress. Glancing at the bits of wood and metal that lay around him， the man sadly picked up the mattress and carried it into his house. After he had put it on the floor， he promptly went to sleep again.

New words and expressions 生词和短语

tired adj. 厌烦的

real adj. 真正的

owner n. 主人

spring n. 弹簧

mattress n. 床垫

gust n. 一阵风

sweep v. 扫，刮

courtyard n. 院子

smash v. 碰碎，摔碎

miraculously adv. 奇迹般地

unhurt adj. 没有受伤的

glance v. 扫视

promptly adv. 迅速地

参考译文

德黑兰的一个人年轻人由于对睡地板感到厌倦，于是积蓄多年买了一张真正的床。他平生第一次自豪地拥有了一张既有弹簧又带床垫的床。由于天气很热，他便把床搬到了他的屋顶上。头两天晚上，他睡得非常好。但第三天晚上起了风暴。一阵大风把床从屋顶上刮了下来，把它摔碎在下面的院子里。那年轻人直到床撞到地上才醒了过来。尽管床摔成了碎片，但年轻人却奇迹地没有受伤。他醒来时，仍然躺在床垫上。年轻人看了一眼周围的碎木片和碎金属片，伤心地捡起了床垫，把它拿进了屋。他把床垫往地板上一放，很快又睡着了。